


Paper And Pride

by killiuas



Category: One Piece
Genre: Brother Feels, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Multi, Other, ace would have been the PROUDEST of luffy, i think, like a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-19 09:55:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29624526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killiuas/pseuds/killiuas
Summary: The crew watched as Yamato grinned at their captain before fishing out something from his pockets. It was a yellowing piece of paper. He held it out. “A paper in exchange for paper, Ace told me” and their captain reached a hand out to take said paper. “He gave it to me in exchange for his vivre card, told me it was something precious to him, and that I should hold on to it until he gets back,” Yamato continued, as their captain slowly unfolded the paper. He read it.
Relationships: Monkey D. Garp & Monkey D. Luffy, Monkey D. Garp & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace
Comments: 7
Kudos: 51





	Paper And Pride

**Author's Note:**

> Slight spoilers for chapter 1000

“How did Ace die?” the crew stilled.

Nami stopped checking the logpose that was headed for Elbaf, Sanji’s grip on the kitchen’s doorknob faltered, and beside him Usopp ceased his adjustment of his slingshot. To his right Franky halted, frozen, as he was about to ascend the stairs leading down to the Sunny’s exhaust room. Robin watched on from the deck with Chopper peering from between her legs, and next to them, Brook adjusted his bow tie nervously. Jimbei felt his knuckles strain as he dug his hands into the helm, below him Zoro clutched tightly at his swords prepared with the intent to lift and use them.

Their captain stepped forward, breaking the reverie, the dreaded tension that always seemed to come with that one word.

_(Ace)_

“Why do you ask?” he replied, his straw hat covering his face, his back turned to his crewmates as he faced the entity in front of him. Yamato shrugged his shoulders, noting silently that the distance between the Sunny’s deck and the sand of Kuri Beach was not too far. Why _did_ he ask? He had no real reason to. He mused that it was perhaps for closure. Because Ace was also his friend. Nonetheless the question was now out and he could do nothing to retract it, especially not after the burning, guilt inducing sensation that came with the gaze of the Strawhat Pirates behind Luffy.

The crew saw their captain’s back tense, as he spoke his next words. One fist curled tightly, the other pressed down on his chest, on the scar. They all grimly deduced that it was not at all fitting for the man that had just opened the borders of Wano, the man who had just freed the country after decades, through the fall of Kaido, _a Yonko_.

”Ace died because of me.” (Jimbei’s arms slackened and dropped from the helm).

_Because_ of me. Not _for_ me.

And in response to their captain’s words Yamato did the unexpected. He threw back his head and laughed.

Because _of course_ Ace did. ( _It was so painfully obvious)._

Zoro stepped forward, immediately bringing out a sword from his side, Sanji appearing next to him in record time. Their captain, however, simply held out a hand — silently ordering them to stand down. They complied.

“Of course he did.” Yamato stated. He wiped a stray tear that had rolled out from his eyes, and the laughter slowly began to die down in his chest. “He couldn’t stop talking about you back when we first met... he _really_ couldn’t, I had to beg him to stop.” Jimbei felt a sting of endearment at this, knowing all too well the amount of times Ace would rattle on and on about his little brother, the ex warlord himself had been subjected to it first hand on multiple occasions, not knowing back then that the same little brother would later become his captain. _(Ace would have been so proud)._

The crew watched as Yamato grinned at their captain before fishing out something from his pockets. It was a yellowing piece of paper. He held it out. “A paper in exchange for paper, Ace told me” and their captain reached a hand out to take said paper. “He gave it to me in exchange for his vivre card, told me it was something precious to him, and that I should hold on to it until he gets back,” Yamato continued, as their captain slowly unfolded the paper. He read it.

A ~~S~~ CE

If the crew saw their captain’s hands shake they made a collective mental note not to mention it. Yamato did too. They didn’t know the meaning behind the single word that was written and no one asked about the contents of the paper. Not even after Yamato had crossed the gap between beach and deck and became one of them, not even after they had continued on and reached Elbaf, not even after they had arrived at the fated island of Laugh Tale and their captain was not just their captain, but was now the Pirate King.

But still they waited.

Waited until one day, they saw their captain place the paper in the folds of an orange beaten down hat. His shoulders were lighter and his sorrow not hidden by his strawhat any longer, but evident on his face. There to share with everyone gathered in front of the graves.

“It was my first word,” he started, and Yamato glanced in his captain’s direction, yet through sheer coincidence, he managed to lock eyes with his captain’s _(and Ace’s)_ grandfather. They looked rather pained. “His name was the first word I learnt to write.” The crew stilled, a heaviness settling down stiflingly on their chests. A small, incredibly selfish part of themselves found them wanting their captain to continue.

Their captain chuckled to himself, twirling a blade of grass through his fingers, as his eyes glazed over, lost in memory. “I spelt his name wrong on the first try though, so I don’t really know why Ace kept it, but I’m glad he did.”

Their captain paused in his activity, looking up at the grave in front of them. A few moments passed in silence and the corners of his eyes began to water.

“Thank _you_ for loving _me_ , Ace.”

Their captain bowed his head in what Zoro could only describe as sheer appreciation, he himself had done something similar once before, when he had cast away his pride after receiving the dreadful news that day three years ago. It was that recognition that made Zoro feel compelled to do the same. He didn’t know much, his captain never overshared, but still he knew enough to bend his head down in gratitude to the grave in front of him. The other members quickly followed in pursuit, their foreheads pressed to the grassy hill they sat atop of.

Garp watched the heads bent in collective thankfulness, and the memory of Ace himself bowing down to Makino in practice surfaced in his mind. He had been angry at the prospect of his grandson setting sail to meet Red Hair but the anger faded away when he found out the reason. Naturally it still lingered, but instead it had begun to morph into something more akin to fear, the result of which was in front of him. _(In the form of a grave)._ Grief was a hard thing, it was most obvious in the expression on his other grandson’s face but along with grief also came acceptance and appreciation, the signs of which were beginning to also show on Luffy’s face, as he lifted his head off the ground.

Garp smiled. Ace would have been proud of him — he always was. Even of the littlest things, which is why there was a piece of paper he had once kept as a child floating in the wind along with his deserted hat.

**Author's Note:**

> I know the crossed out S in Ace’s tattoo is a tribute to Sabo but I’ve had the headcanon that the original spelling mistake came from Luffy not knowing how to spell Ace’s name right for a long time so I decided to write about it! :3


End file.
